Turks, Cease Fire!
by ISRAEL SHAMIR
Erdogan’s Janissaries
Weekend Edition October 12-14, 2012
In the Middle Eastern corrida, the moment of truth is approaching
fast. Assad’s Syria is running around the arena like a wounded bull,
fraught and worn down by a year of cruel strife. Banderillas of
mujaheeds stick out of his broken hide. The public, the Europeans, the
Americans, the Gulf rulers call: Kill him! And the Turkish matador
steps forward, pulling out his sword. His cannons rain death on Syrian
slopes; fire and lead storm consumes the hills. Erdogan is preparing
to deal last blow to his exhausted neighbour.
`Don’t do it, Erdogan! Desist!’ – cry thousands of Turks demonstrating
against the bloody war. Syria was a good neighbour of Turkey: Assad
did not allow the Kurdish separatists to open the second front against
the Turks, he delivered Ocalan to their hands, he did not turn the
loss of Antioch into a national cause, he kept Israeli army at bay, he
bore the brunt of war in Lebanon, supporting the brave warriors of
Hezbullah. Post-Assad Syria will be worse for Turkey.
If Erdogan’s Janissaries will deal treachourous strike to Syria, and
cause its collapse, a terrible whirlwind will ensue, and it will
engulf Turkey as well. Inevitable massacre of Syrian Christians by the
mujaheeds with Turkish support will remind the world of so many
forgotten Christian villages and cities smashed and depopulated by the
victorious Turks. The ghosts of slaughtered Armenians and Greeks will
emerge from the lanes of Smyrna and the shores of Van. From broken
Syria, Kurdistan will definitely come to being, reducing Turkey to the
size envisaged by the Versailles Conference.
Saudis will be the great winners of the war, not the Turks. The dream
of Caliphate will be centered on the Gulf, not on the Bosphorus. With
their own hands, the Turks prepare their own defeat.
Good relations with Russia will suffer immensely. Russia has called
upon Turkey to restrain its actions and reminded of terrible
responsibility to be born by the aggressor. Russia wants Syria to find
its own way. Russia is the biggest trade partner of Turkey; thousands
of Turkish engineers and technicians work in Russia, thousands of
Russians holiday in Turkey.
Moreover, the relations of Russia and Turkey are important beyond
practical mercantile considerations. These two great countries are
heirs to one greatest Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans
inherited her main body that was broken in 1918 into many splinters;
her most important offshoot, Russia inherited her spirit and faith. If
you seek symmetry, think of the Western Roman Empire: her main body,
Western Europe, was fragmented and is now in the process of being
united, while her most important offshoot, the United States of
America, inherited her imperial spirit.
Russians and Turks are very similar to each other; the Turks are
`Russians in shalvars’, they say. Both nations went through
modernisation and Westernisation, but preserved their own identity.
Both nations passed through violent denial of faith from 1920s to
1990s, and rediscovered their religious leanings afterwards.
The Russians see the Turks as equal human beings and feel empathy to
them. The leading Russian historian Lev Gumilev exalted the Russian –
Turkic comradeship-in-arms that broke the wave of Western Crusades in
13-14th Centuries. In modern times Vladimir Lenin gave a hand in
friendship to Mustafa Kemal and forfeited all Russian claims to
defeated Turkey, for he expected Turkey to sustain its historical role
of protector of the East. The Russians and the Turks must remain
friends. If the Russians ask Erdogan `Do not do it!’ he should listen.
The Russians are not obsessed with Bashar al Assad, nor is he their
best friend. He came to power in year 2000, but his first visit to
Moscow took place only in 2005, meanwhile he frequented Paris and
London. Russian trade with Syria is not too big, either. Israeli PM
Netanyahu promised Russian President Putin to protect Russian
interests in Syria in case of the rebels’ victory. The Russians aren’t
selfish; they insist on peaceful transformation, in accordance with
Syrian people’s will, and they do object to the rape of Syria as
envisaged by Saudis and the West.
The relations of Turkey with Iran will suffer. For Iran, Syria is an
important partner, a window to the Mediterranean. Victory of
pro-American forces in Syria will close the window. Iranians will be
mighty upset with Turkey. It is not a good idea to spoil these
relations.
The people of Turkey do not want war with Syria; even Turkish generals
are not keen to unleash the dogs of war. Only pro-NATO Westernisers
within Turkish leadership desire to overturn the legitimate government
in Damascus. Other Turks remember that doing Western bidding never led
Turkey – or Russia – to any good result.
I understand why the Turkish leaders decided to embrace and support
the rebels a year ago: they were misled by the Western-cum-Gulf spin
of Syrian government’s forthcoming speedy collapse, and they wanted to
be on the winning side. But after the noisy media campaign, reality
came and debunked the propheciers: despite billions of dollars wasted
by Qatar, Saudis and the West, despite heaps of armaments transported
through Turkish-Syrian border, the Assad regime stands fast and still
enjoys enough popular support.
This is the right time for reassessment. In every game, there is a
moment for it, when you decide not to throw good money after bad one.
And reassessment started, with many Turks calling to write off the
losses, stop supporting the rebels and try to restore normalcy under
the good slogan `with neighbours – no problems’. The New York Times
reported a few days before the flare-up of the U-turn in Turkish
minds: people are disappointed with flow of unruly Syrian mujaheddin,
with lawlessness, with flood of refugees, with growth of Kurdish
resistance. Turks are known for their daring U-turns. In 1940, they
sided with Germany being certain of the Reich’s victory, but in 1944
they understood that the USSR is winning, and changed sides. Now is
the time to change sides, to go back to strict neutrality, to stop
support of the rebels and seal the border, said the people to the New
York Times reporter.
But people overseas who planned the Syrian Disaster, drew different
conclusion of this turn of mind: they decided to speed up their
operations and provoked the artillery exchanges. We do not know who
aimed the mortars at the Turkish border villages: whether it was done
by the Syrian Army in the heat of the battle, or by the rebels trying
to trigger the war. The Turkish Yurt newspaper reported that the shots
were fired from the NATO weapons recently given to the rebels by the
Turks: `Erdogan’s Government Handed over the Mortars to Armed (Free
Syrian Army) Groups in Syria which Shelled Akcakale Town’ – they
headlined. The ammunition was reportedly NATO ammunition 120 AE
HE-TNT. Even the New York Times admitted that it’s unknown who’s
responsible for mortars landing in Turkey. A German TV canal ZDF
reported: mortars were launched from territory controlled by FSA
fighters. A leaked video clip said they admitted responsibility for
striking Akcakale and killing five Turkish nationals.
But it is possible that the shells were fired by the government troops
who shot at the rebels and the Turkish villagers became innocent
victims. Provided the Turks allow the rebels to operate freely on
their territory, it is quite possible.
It is still not a good reason to begin war. Let us remember 2010, when
the Israelis murdered mafia-style nine unarmed Turkish volunteers on
board of Mavi Marmara. This was brutal murder at full daylight, filmed
and undoubted. Erdogan threatened to send Turkish Navy to the shores
of Palestine and relieve Gaza by force. Now, did he do it? No, he did
not. Now he is brave to shoot at tired and devastated Syria; but why
he was not brave enough to deal with Israel, like the Syrians did?
Now Israelis hope Erdogan will help the rebels to destroy Syria; they
asked Turks to coordinate joint action with them. So instead of
punishing Israel, Erdogan ends with doing Israel’s desire.
I remember snowy February 2003 in Istanbul, when I came to argue for
banning the US army passage to Iraq. I told them that `the long
standing Zionist plan is being realised. First, Iraq must be
destroyed. After that, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, until all the former
Ottoman Empire and its neighbours from Pakistan to Africa are turned
into a Zone of Special Interests for Israel, policed by the Turks.
This plan was outlined by General Sharon many years ago, re-formulated
by the Zionist Neo-cons Richard Perle and Douglas Feith in 1996, and
is now upheld by the Wolfowitz Cabal, the people who run the US
foreign policy. If it will be done, it will have been done with the
connivance of Turkey, of its `Islamic’ government.
I am sorry for you, friends. You were shepherds of the Middle East,
now you help the Wolves. You were the rulers of men, now you have
become the servants of your masters. You were the protectors of Islam,
now you are about to allow desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque.’
What I said then, became true; nothing good came out of Iraqi war. And
now, I can say it again: nothing good will come out of Syria War.
The stories of multiple massacres are often just stories. Wikileaks
published a Stratfor report saying: `most of the [Syrian] opposition’s
more serious claims have turned out to be grossly exaggerated or
simply untrue.’ And the events on the ground are certainly not worse
than whatever was done to Kurds in Turkey, and the Turks probably do
not cherish a R2P intervention in their country.
My advice: do not try to finish off Syria, return to your policy of
strict neutrality, cease fire and logistic support of the rebels. Let
the Syrians sort out their problems themselves, without foreign
intervention.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/12/turks-cease-fire/